Elon Musk’s Hyperloop is sort of outside the realm of InsideEVs. Its inclusion here is due only to Elon Musk’s tie with Tesla Motors.

Hyperloop

We won’t even begin to try explain how the Hyperloop works (follow this PDF link for all the technical details) and why would we when Musk himself explains it for us?

In this exclusive Bloomberg interview, Musk fields general and specific Hyperloop questions.

According to Bloomberg:

“The Hyperloop is here, in its full, theoretical glory. After keeping the public in suspense for about a year, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors and Space Exploration Technologies, has finally revealed some concrete details of what he sees as a new, superfast mode of solar-powered transportation.”

So, if you’re not yet Hyperlooped out or if you, like us, enjoy listening to Musk field random, unrehearsed questions, then this here interview is for you.

I love the concept of getting inside of a tube and travelling at supersonic speeds to cities around the world. It would be so awesome if I could take travel from Dallas to London in 3 hours instead of 8. Plus it would be safer and cheaper. I doubt I’ll see a trans-atlantic tube in my lifetime, though.

Due to low pressure in the tube, the pods will be traveling in hyperpersonic airflow. Low pressure in tube and air brearing skids also reduce noise escaping the tube. The low pressure also means Hyperloop will have a very friendly noise footprint for local environment near tubes.

Think testing a SR-71 jet at O, or HO scale. It would not fly, but much can be verified with controlled experimentation.

Some testing can be done on scale models in hypersonic wind tunnel, but testing motors & skids will be more complex as aerodynamics do scale in consistent manor with a models physical size. A number of models and experiments will be needed to test & refine the different components that make up Hyperloop before building a prototype.

I would like to the use model to see if the principle of how it works can work on a scale level. I would at least be happy to see the model system working under it’s own power. If he could come up with something like this that could move under it’s own power then I would believe it more. It after all needs a tube to run in like a train.

I read the PDF report and now listened to the audio. Couldn’t figure out the levitation part, now I think I roughly understand it.

Definitely a great idea worth piloting. And with Musk having established his engineering-innovation bragging rights, the money and support should line up pretty quickly behind the idea if the pilot works out.

If so, I’d love to see at the very least a West/East Coast, and then coast-to-coast tubes in my lifetime (not to mention on other continents).

Current Hyperloop version assums battery powered onboard compressor with average 85 kW power consumtion therefore travel distance is limited. I do not know if wireless power transfere could be implemented.

Wireless power transfer is a viable technology today just like the Hyperloop is viable. There’s just a whole lot more development that needs to be done. In the model, though, the power pack supports the proposed distance, so why add complexity to the first release? Tesla knows something about batteries. Reduce risk and development cost. Improve incrementally.

The larger version (passenger plus vehicle) hints to this sort of possibility.

I imagine that, when such a capsule is scheduled to come up, and If none of the passengers are taking their cars, then the space could be used for shipping…stuff like same-day shipping/mail delivery guaranteed between connected cities…whatever.